P5K-V to P5Q-EM

[chris.tkd]

Hello,

Ive changed from a full atx motherboard to a micro atx board, does anyone know if my linux/windows dual boot will still work on the new mobo without reinstalling?

What determines if windows will work on different hardware?

Thanks,
Chris.

 

[chris.tkd]

i usually dont do this but... bump. Could a mod perhaps move this into the intel mobos section there seems to be alot more activity in there.

Thanks.

 

[Mackowitz]

Two ways to do this:

1) Swap out the board and pray to god it boots, Windows will recognize all kinds of new hardware and install drivers for the stuff, you'll probably have to reboot several times to get it all done, but in the end, it will work. The wrinkle with this is if you have a proprietary hard drive controller on your new board that needs a driver that windows does not have.

2) Sysprep. What sysprep is really for is to allow IT guys to configure all the software on one computer, then mirror that drive and many times to deploy the installation on multiple computers. Sysprep removes all the driver stuff from the installation, so when windows boots it's all fresh and clean and will look for the drivers for your new hardware (and there shouldn't be conflicts with your old hardware, since those drivers were removed by sysprep.) You'll need to do some more googling on sysprep for more details.

For either method, I would strongly recommend backing all your stuff up and be prepared to have to do a fresh install. Also a good idea to mirror your hard drive onto a new drive (Seagate, Western Digital have utilities to do this), remove the old drive and keep it nice and safe, and screw around with the new drive. In that case, if you brick something, you've still got your old drive safe and intact. Spending $70 on a new drive is a pretty small price to pay to save yourself the agony of losing your installation completely.